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Half a day has passed during the investigation and the quarrel between Yuta's relatives but no one noticed that the boy is already gone away.
Only wearing his casual clothing, the cold wind was blowing on his tender skin but due to his excitement, the boy doesn't seem to mind. He ran around the place looking at the hanging lights and different decorations adorning the streets while Sakuya would just follow him around.
The maid attracted a lot of attention, not only because she's wearing a maid outfit or having a beautiful appearance but most probably because of her silver hair.
"Hey look, Sakuya! That toy looks-ah? AH-Choo!" Yuta felt the chill running through his entire body after being outside only wearing light clothing.
"Oh my! I am very sorry, young master. I have became careless and forgot to get you changed for the cold weather." The maid said while wiping his nose with a handkerchief she pulled from her pocket.
"Don't worry about it. It's my fault anyway. I got too excited that I suddenly went outside and pulled you along." He said.
"That won't do." The maid said and quickly pulled her watch. With a press of a button she disappeared in front of the boy and appeared behind him at the same time carrying a comfortable looking coat and a knitted cap. Without a moment to spare, she made him wear the coat and the cap.
"Oh, thanks." He said, but he noticed that the maid wasn't wearing any warm clothing. "How about you Sakuya? Aren't you cold?" He asked.
"You could say I am used to it." The maid simply answered.
Yuta kept staring at her which the maid took notice.
"Is there anything else you need, young master?" She asked.
"Say, Sakuya. How do you do that?" He asked.
"What do you mean?" The maid clarified.
"You know. When you pull out your watch! You suddenly disappear." Yuta explained.
"Oh, you mean this?" The maid said as she pulled out her pocket watch and presented it to the child. "Rather than disappearing, I simply stop time." She said and with a push of a button, time has completely stopped.
Yuta cannot believe his eyes even if he already seen it happen before. Everything around him stopped moving. The people that are walking, the vehicles, even the birds flying above them.
"Wow! You can stop time with this?" The boy asked taking the watch from the maid's hand. He tried pushing the button but nothing happens.
"I believe it only works if I do it." Sakuya explained taking the watch back and resuming the flow of time.
Yuta can't seem to understand but he did not pushed topic. Instead he continued his stroll around town. He stopped by a restaurant, watching people eating together happily.
"Are you feeling hungry, young master?" Sakuya asked and without waiting for a reply, she pulled out her watch and stopped time around them. She held his hand and led him inside the restaurant. He set a table for him and proceeded to enter the kitchen. After a few seconds, she came back with a meal already prepared. After setting the meal in front of him, she stood beside him waiting if the boy needed anything else. But even if the food looks so delicious, the boy would not touch it.
"What's wrong, young master? Is the food not to your liking?" The maid asked.
"It's not that, but aren't we stealing things?" The boy asked.
The maid leaned beside him and told him, "Right now, you must not let anything hold you back, young master. Even the law. If you needed anything, just tell me and you will have it. Now then, please eat up. You need it to stay strong."
Yuta hesitated at first but ate it in the end. After having his fill, they walked outside the restaurant and the time resumed.
"How about giving it a try, young master? Let's enjoy by taking advantage of the time. Let me show you how." The maid suggested and led the way.
First off, they went to a shopping center. Yuta tried every clothes Sakuya chose for him. After choosing the clothes, Sakuya stops the time and they simply walks out of the store. Sakuya would even bother to put them in a paper bag and she even carried a cart with them.
Next, they go to some toy shop. Yuta would take everything if possible, but the maid reminded him that they could only take a few considering how much weight they could carry. Even the cart has a limit.
Then they went to see some movies. For free!
Lastly,Sakuya brought him to an amusement park. Making sure that their goods are properly hidden, they entered the amusement park and taking a lot of free ride tickets and money from the counter. They rode different rides, ate foods, and took prices without paying for anything. They walked around some more until it's almost midnight. Feeling so tired, they sat on a bench to get some rest.
"I had so much fun." The boy said while staring at the starless night sky.
"I am glad that you did." The maid responded.
A moment of silence passed before the boy started to speak again. "Hey Sakuya? What happened to those three men?"
"I have disposed of them." The maid quickly answered.
"And my mother?" The boy asked again.
The maid hesitated at first but answered him anyway. "I have disposed of her body as well."
Another moment of silence went by until Sakuya decided to break it. "I can somehow relate on what you are going through right now and I cannot promise to take care of you the same way your mother did but, you have accept what happened and move on." She pulled out her watch once more and Yuta heard a click. The next thing he know, he's already on top of a tower sitting on the edge. The wind is blowing very hard as he is looking at the city below him.
"You may have lost the ones that are important to you but now that I am here, will give you anything you want. Just tell me whatever it is that you need and you will have it." She pulls out her watch once more. "I can give you..." And with a push of the button, everything stood still. "The world." She whispers in his ears as she sat beside him. Everything looked lifeless. Nothing moves and you hear no sound. He looked around him and he did feel like he can do anything. Time resumed and the strong wind started blowing once more. He also noticed something dancing in the air. Snow. The first snow fall of the year. It finally fell.
The boy threw his arms around the maid's waist and told her, "Thank you, Sakuya."
"It is my pleasure that I am able to help" the maid replied wrapping one arm around the boy while the other lightly brushed his hair.
"Not only that, but because of what you did no one else will have to go through what I have been through. So thank you." The boy explained. There was a moment of silence before the maid started talking again.
"I believe that is not exactly true." The maid objected. This got her a confused look from the boy. "I may have taken care of those three but it seems they belong to a big organization." The maid explained.
"What do you mean?" The boy asked.
"What I mean is, there are a lot more of them out there."
"Then, we really haven't stopped anything." Yuta felt despair as the tragedy that befall him plays back in his memory.
"Well, if the head of the organization is dead and their base of operation has been destroyed, there's a high possibility that their organization will disband." The maid suggested which only received an even confused look from the child.
The maid only smiled and tried to explain it easily so Yuta can understand. "It means that if we... Kill... Their boss... And destroy their... House... All of them will stop."
That idea is perfect, is what the boy is thinking. "Sakuya! Can you find where they live?" The boy asked with his eyes begging that it must be done.
"I am not sure. I think I can go and look for..." Once more she pulled out her clock and pressed the button. As if nothing happened, the maid is still sitting next to him but you can clearly see that her position have shifted slightly.
"I have found it young master." The maid reported.
"Really? Wow! How did you do it?" The boy asked.
"You see, when they went to your house, they actually brought a vehicle. It really took me a while to dispose of that one but because of that, I am able to track them down. I went to the public security headquarters, the ones that keep track of the security camera around the city, and tracked down any sightings of that vehicle from every camera and..." She stopped explaining seeing that the child could not take in everything in her report. She smiled at him and said, "How I got the information is not that important, I think. The point is, I know where their boss is." She said.
Yuta felt very nervous and uneasy but determination sparked in his eyes. "Take me to them."
Without wasting any moment, the maid pulled out her watched and held it close to the boy. "Should you change your mind, we can still-" But before she could finish what she's saying, Yuta held her hand and pushed it slightly to move her thumb and press the button on the watch. The next thing he saw was the maid's hand disappeared in front of him but found her standing next to him. He stood up and looked around. They are no longer on top of a tower but found themselves in front of a beautiful mansion.
"This is where they live. I will now take you to his room." The maid said and with a push of a button, they are in front of a huge wooden double door. "Go ahead and meet him inside. I will be taking care of things around here." The maid said and suddenly disappears. The boy then turns the knob and opens the door. He enters the room without worry and walks straight to the man standing behind a desk while talking to the phone. He quickly drops the call as he is surprised that a child would just enter the room.
He looks at his three guards sitting near the door, one on the left while the other two are on the right. "Hey! Who let that kid get in here?! Take him away!" He ordered them.
The one on the left quickly chased the boy. "Hey, where do you think you're going?" He said while trying to reach out to the boy, but before he could even reach him, the boy called out to his maid.
"Sakuya!"
Looking at the boss' perspective, everything seems to move very slowly and he something he's not even sure if it actually happened. A maid appeared beside his guard chasing the boy while holding a knife that she seems to be polishing with a cloth. The other thing he saw was that there's a deep cut on his guards neck and blood is slowly gushing out of it. Then the flow of time went to normal but the guard chasing the boy and the maid disappeared. Even the other two guards are having a problem believing what they just saw. A second later, the maid re-appeared again beside his other two guards doing the same action earlier while his two guards got their throat slit. And with the same pattern, the other two disappeared along with the maid.
Unable to understand the situation, the boss stood still in his place watching the child walk closer and closer to him.
"Please have a sit, sir." Said a voice behind him and found out it was the maid. She forced him to sit down and because he was rattled a bit, his knees gave in easily and he fell to his seat as his weight pulled him down.
Then he felt a burning sensation on his right hand. He looked at it and found that it was pinned to the armrest of the chair with a knife. Before he could even react to the pain, he felt his other arm being pulled and the next thing he saw was the knife already being driven down on the back of his palm by a quick, clean stab, pinning it to the arm rest.
He felt the pain and started screaming and squirming on his seat. The maid held him by the shoulder to get his attention and threatened him. "Please do not force me to stab your knees as well and keep calm."
He heard something crawling up his desk and found the boy trying to climb to it. The maid went beside the boy and help him climb. When he got on top, he walked closer to the man and sat on the edge of the table.
"Who are you people? What do you want? Do you even know who I am?" He asked them, raising his voice as loud as he can but the pain from the knives kept him from thrashing about.
"I know who you are." Yuta answered. "You're responsible for the death of my mother." He said.
"I don't care about any of your concerns! I have a lot of men and I will have you two be tortured and before killing you slowly!" He the man said.
"Your men? They certainly are a lot of them... Earlier. Right now, you are the only one left." Sakuya said. The man was confused on what she's saying. "In other words, I have disposed of them already. If you still cannot understand that, I killed them all. Just like how I took care of your three guards in this room."
In normal circumstances, the man would not believe what he just heard. But after witnessing what happened earlier, he had no choice but to believe it.
The boy held out his hand and the maid handed the knife she was polishing. He then held the knife near the man's face. The man felt really nervous. These two aren't normal. "Hey, kid. D-do you know what you're doing? Y-you could hurt yourself with that. Do you understand me? Put it down." He said trying talk his way out of trouble but Yuta was unfazed. He even moved the tip in front of the man's eye. "Hey didn't you heard me?! I said you could get hurt-!"
"Do you know how much it hurts?" Yuta said in a grim tone.
"What are you mumbling about, kid?"
"Do you know how much it hurts? For a mother to let her child witness her death. How painful it is knowing that she will leave behind the one she loves the most in the midst of danger? Knowing that she could not do anything, even save herself. Do you know how that feels?" Yuta asked.
"Do you think I care?!" The man shouted and he tried to kick the child off his desk, but even though he put all his power in a single kick, he didn't feel any contact. He didn't hit anything at all. "What?" He tried it again but nothing seems to happen. He looked at his right leg to see what's wrong only to discover his leg was missing. He stared at it and he can see it was cleanly cut off and blood was gushing out from it. He was to shocked to even feel the pain that he just started cursing and crying. He even peed his pants. He looked at the maid to find her glaring at him.
"I dare you to do that again." She warned him.
"Please! Ow! Tell me... What is it that you want? I can give you a lot of money. Just tell me and I will pay you as much as you want. Just let me go." He begged while crying.
"My mother." Yuta answered.
"What?"
"Can you bring back my mother?" He asked again. The man was unable to respond. He can't even understand what is being asked of him.
"I thought so." Yuta said and with a single thrust, he drove the knife through the man's neck. No blood came out and the man sat still in his chair left in a shocked expression.
"Sakuya! When did I asked you to stop the time?" He asked the maid.
"I believe you have done enough." She answered and took him away from the desk and put him down on the floor. "Let me take care of it." She said and without a second to spare, the man's body disappeared from his seat only leaving the two of them in the room.
"What about the house?" He asked but before the maid could answer, there was a loud explosion from inside the mansion.
"It has been taken care of." The maid answered.
"I see. That's good."
"We should hurry. The whole place is going to burn down in a few moment." The maid said but Yuta did not move an inch. Instead, he kept staring at his hands.
"What are you waiting for? Let's go!"
"I'm tired already." Yuta said.
"You are... Tired? It's fine. I will carry you out-"
"No Sakuya. I am tired of everything. I just want this to end." He pulled the golden watch under his shirt and took it off from his neck. He held it out towards Sakuya and asked her, "Would you listen to my selfish request and end it all for me?"
The maid stared at the watch for a while before taking it away from the boy's hand. She then took a long clear, thin tube with a needle on one end. She held the boy's right arm and with a precise movement, she pierced his delicate skin with the needle. Blood flowed down the tube and waiting on the other end was a fountain pen. She made him hold the pen and handed him a greeting card. It was the same greeting card that he received on his Christmas gift but the To: portion was empty. Somehow, Yuta understands how it works. And he knows this isn't the first time this happened. He thought so hard on what he was going to write. He ended up writing 'Star'. After he's done, the maid immediately took the card, the pen and the tube from him and put them back under her apron. She then pulled out a knife with a golden handle and stood in front of the boy. She held the golden watch and opened its cover to find the needle of the clock just a few seconds away until it reaches 12 midnight. When then hands and the needle finally met together, all pointing at 12 o'clock, the watch stopped working and with that the maid closed down its cover and put it away under her apron only leaving the knife in her hands.
Trembling quite hard, Yuta still managed to look up to Sakuya, teary eyed and forcing a smile. "Sakuya, thank you... For everything." He said.
Sakuya reached for the silver watch on her pocket and held it so that Yuta can see it. "It is my pleasure to be at your service." She said and pressed the button on the watch. The boy can now be seen frozen place. Time has stopped around them but not for Yuta. He was just placed in a very slow state. Sakuya then proceeded to pull out different colored knives and sent it flying towards Yuta but as the time is still stopped, the knives were suspended in the air. She placed a lot of knives, a heading towards Yuta and when she's finally satisfied with their number, she stood in front of the boy holding the knife with a gold hilt on one hand and red on the other. He stared at the boy for while looking at his half-crying face with a forced smile and still on a very slow state. Then her eyes glow red and her smile was turned into a very twisted and sadistic smile as she resumed the time around them and all the knives pierced Yuta's soft flesh, tearing it apart. It was followed by a storm of slashes from the maid herself. Every part of the boy was turned into a mash of minced meat and sticky liquid slowly expanding in the air. When all parts of him completely turned into paste, Sakuya stopped the time completely and walked out of the room. A few moments later, she returned with an clay jar and a wooden ladle. Little by little, she scooped Yuta's liquefied body from the air and placed it inside the jar.
All alone on a train holding a clay jar covered with cloth and tied with a string, Sakuya sits quietly waiting for the only platform the train she's riding on will stop. Outside the windows, you can see nothing but pitch black darkness with a few flashes coming from tunnels lights. It's already been an hour but the tunnel doesn't seem to end until it single light source showing an empty platform came into view. The train slowed down little by little until it came to a full stop. Sakuya stood up carrying the jar and stepped off the train to be greeted by a blonde woman, wearing a purple dress and a mob cap. On her hand, she carries a closed parasol. Tilting her head slightly, Yukari Yakumo greets the maid upon her arrival.
"I see you've only carried one jar today." She announced.
"Yes. This is the last harvest of the year. I believe we have enough to satisfy Milady and the young mistress." She said. "Though I do believe we have a great harvest this year that Milady decided to celebrate this holiday's eve with everyone. I hope you are able to attend." Sakuya said.
"Oh my! I am invited?" Yukari asked.
"For the trouble we are giving you for the food transportation of Milady, this is the least we can do to repay your generosity." She replied.
"Hmm~ It sounds tempting bu~t, I will think about it." The elder sage replied.
"Please do think about it. If you'll excuse me, I will be on my way." the maid replied and proceed to climb up the stairs.
December, the following year
A little girl sitting on a swing. In her hand, she held a gift wrapped in a yellow wrapper and tied with a white ribbon. Hesitant at first but she ripped off the wrapper and quickly opened the box only to find a golden watch inside. She opened the top cover and revealed the clock's face. But under the cover was a short message. The girl silently read the message and found it confusing.
"Sakuya?" She said and suddenly the atmosphere around her changed. Nothing is moving around her, but the thing that mostly caught her attention was the beautiful maid standing in front of her.
"Greetings milady. It is my greatest pleasure to finally meet you." the maid greeted the little girl. The child was caught in the moment for a few seconds the felt excited and showed a very bright smile.